Firestone Hosts Dinner for China Energy Fund Committee Delegates

Chauto Chan, president of Huaxin Energy and the China Energy Fund Committee, along with five other CEFC delegates, visited Firestone on Wednesday (April 25) and were hosted by Mayor Chad Auer and Town of Firestone staff at a dinner at Saddleback Golf Club in Firestone.

Huaxin and the CEFC have a strong interest in securing U.S. technology partners to help extract Chinese shale gas, which measures more than 885 trillion cubic feet. However, the country lacks the technology to move forward with the extraction. The CEFC is also looking to arrange gas purchases from the U.S. for Chinese consumption.

“I am convinced that U.S. and China relations will be the most consequential of the 21st century,” Auer said, who serves on the executive committee of the Metro Mayors Caucus. “However, the future of these relationships will not be decided in Washington, D.C., or Beijing. They will be determined in U.S. and China communities.”

With the help of a Chinese interpreter, Chauto spoke about the many opportunities he sees for the CEFC and the U.S. to work together. The CEFC has completed the opening of its New York office, and is seriously considering an office in the Western United States.

Auer believes that Firestone, Weld County and Colorado must be participants, not spectators, in forging this critical relationship.

During their visit to Colorado, the Chinese delegates met with key gas, oil and energy representatives to explore opportunities for opening a Colorado office. Before visiting Firestone, they discussed technology and shale gas extraction with the Unconventional Natural Gas and Oil Institute at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. The group also spoke with representatives from the International Research Center for Energy and Economic Development, as well as the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.

Firestone Town Manager Wesley LaVanchy met with the Chinese delegation on April 26, in Denver as they completed their Colorado visit. “Their promise to continue building relationships, cooperating on energy exploration and increasing exports of thermo coal in the first step of what is expected to be a long-term relationship,” he said.